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Just came across this gem in the Aviation Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report of the collision between a light plane and a ferris wheel.

The ATSB found that the management of risk in relation to flight training operations by [company name redacted] was adequate; however, it had been circumvented in a number of areas during the training of the pilot. That resulted in a pilot operating in the aviation environment who did not possess the required competencies to exercise the privileges of a private pilot certificate.

The ATSB also found that the approach to the management of risk by the Old Bar Beach Festival Committee, specifically relating to aviation operations at the beach festival, was ineffective and resulted in a level of risk that had the potential to impact on the objectives of the festival.

Oh, you mean like the FERRIS WHEEL can't be used now?

I need a 32 bit unsigned value just to hold the number of coding WTF I see in a day …

So I've driven them back through the Forest and dropped them off at home.

They'd been to a nightclub for an under 16s event. Guest appearance from some actor from a soap opera aimed at teenagers. Last one they went to was a guest appearance from Joey Essex. For those who don't know who he is imagine a bloke who can't get a job as a village idiot because he isn't smart enough. That is Joey, catapulted to fame by reality tv.

Anyway, collecting them was a weird experience. Me and a few other middle aged blokes stood over the road as this nightclub disgorged a few hundred kids, mostly girls, under the age of 16, quite a few of them barely dressed, and tried to select the ones we wanted to take away.

This was not easy for me, as I was after four of them, because I pay no attention I didn't know what three of them looked like, and the one I had met before that evening I had a rough idea what her hair was like but no idea how she was dressed. Eventually I rounded up four likely candidates and escorted them to my car.

The journey home was mostly discussions about the boys they had met. Boys they had swapped mobile numbers with and were texting on the way home. One of them, I learnt, was originally from Yorkshire, had Instagram, snapchat, and Facebook, and had left early because his mate was getting narky that none of the other girls were interested in him.

My daughter is 8, we spent the day walking with the dog then played on the swings.

Is this really where she will be in 4 years time?

I'm terrified.

Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.

I fully sympathize, since I was a single father and had 2 (two) daughters. Sleepovers and other girly activities and things were to be survived, not to speak of clothes shopping. Getting them through puberty, though, was what did me in, I think. Whenever the girls had something planned, my son and I made plans to be on the edge of hearing range, so we could respond only if there were an actual emergency. Even so, sometimes I wasn't sure if it was an emergency or not. You have no idea how often I hoped that my daughters' friends' parents would insist that their children not spend any time at the home of a single father. Unfortunately I concluded that they (the parents) were just as happy to not have the gaggle at their own homes.

The good news is that it does eventually get better. The bad news is that it will get worse first. Once you get to the point where you are the stupidest person alive, it can only get better from then onwards. Then eventually, they'll be daddy's little girl again and the world will be right.

Once you get to the point where you are the stupidest person alive, it can only get better from then onwards. Then eventually, they'll be daddy's little girl again and the world will be right want the keys for the car.

Once you get to the point where you are the stupidest person alive, it can only get better from then onwards. Then eventually, they'll be daddy's little girl again and the world will be right want the keys for the car want your bank account.

Well... it's not inevitable, in my opinion.
I'm pretty sure that most young girls learn to act that way through peer pressure. If you can somehow teach her that not all older girls have to act that way, and that she needn't fake interests to fit in with her friends, she'll probably grow into something unique - herself.

I find it hard to believe that all young girls would act in the way you 've described if they never felt the pressure to conform.

The girls I knew had their "going out" clothes stashed at a friend's house, they left home, changed, went out, changed back, came home. Parents were none the wiser, or at least that is what the girls thought.

Responsibility... responsibility? What's that? Nah, the big problem was that there was always that one kid who had parents who didn't seem to care, or let their child make their own choices, or who knows why. And everyone knew which one it was.

You know, that parent who lets their 10-12 year old kid have their friends over and watch R rated movies, telling the kids that it is okay? And then act confused when the other parents call up and are angry about finding out that little Timmy just watched a movie meant for grown ups?